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I have a 99%love of teaching Yoga. There is 1% sadness I can't sprinkle Yoga Uberasana poses on peeps from the straightaway. Just doesn't work that way. I'm always honored to be the tour guide, to be certain!!!

I love multi-level classes. But super important to me, as the teacher, that students feel free to do their advanced interpretation of each and every pose:

So I didn’t have a whole lot of time yesterday to read my books about the Fascia, which I have decided is the target goal of my PTA career. Myofascial therapy is fascinating. I really hope that the clinic I work at will be give me the opportunity to hone my myofascial/manual therapy techniques.

The fascia is also most fascinating to me in terms of Yin Yoga. I *always* at least mention the effect Yin Yoga can influence the connective tissues, and thereby the body itself. There are so many yoga poses that in essence perform self-release technique! I want my students to have a deeper understanding of their own bodies. But since there is so much more to Yin – and I don’t want the students to get too left-brained during class. So I try to just pepper it in.

More and more research is being reported these days on what some call the “Cinderalla” tissue. I love these tensegrity models. These models can hold their shape, whereas bones in a skeleton model are held together with wire.

I intend to make the Fascia an important part of my blog. I think I’ve found my Niche. I intend to expound on current research and up to date findings – in a different blog.

Right now I’ll just say this. I know from a personal perspective that my range of motion improvements affect my every movement and I have a feeling of general ease. I see the students’ bodies change over time, much to their surprise. I see a lot of students come to love their Yin practice and its effects. So it isn’t just me that thinks we are onto something.

A major aspect to Yin Yoga is the fascia and other connective tissues. Our bones can’t hold us upright due to compressive forces – Our tissues are a crucial tying together of our form and dispersion of compressive forces. This is only one aspect of the Yin approach, and I will expound upon Yin philosophy but that is a big topic and there is . There is much to do today – 2 classes to teach – household crap – and preparing for my Lululemon class tomorrow in the Park tomorrow. This experience will broaden my teaching scope a lot. Park yoga is a lot different than controlled environment/flat floor of Vivify.

I have discovered, much to my pleasant surprise, that I actually LOVE reading about the Fascial network and how it intertwines with the better recognized musculoskeletal system It’s all Tensegrity baby.

Huh? What’s that? Super awesome question. Right now I’m still gathering my information to adequately verbalize it at the level I get it.

I *am* a scientist, even if I have sort of turned my back on my title, I DO have a doctorate in the biological sciences. I worked really f-ing hard to pull that off! And now I’ve got an Associate’s Degree in Physical Therapy Assistance (NOT TO MENTION I AM ACTUALLY LICENSED TO PRACTICE THAT UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A PHYSICAL THERAPIST!). Still getting used to that last phrase and feeling confident that I’ve spent countless hours considering how the human body function properly (or not!)

But back to Tensegrity Baby. I’ve always had an appreciation for the power of a good long stretch, even as a youngster. And I am blessed with a naturally (extremely) flexible body that has gotten more flexible over the years thanks to 17 years of spending thousands (not kidding) hours on my Manduka yoga mat coupled with years of yoga teaching.

This is an incredibly exciting time to be a yoga instructor/yoga geek. With notable Western Institutions publishing evidence based research on the powers of Yoga, mindfulness, and healthy fascia….. Wow. Western philosophy simply has to connect with the East, even if the naysayers will that I’m suggesting satanic worship, which is simply not the case.

There is a part of me that even feels compelled to write a research grant (not quite there yet, lemme heal from being in school). While I waffle on the grant writing idea AT THIS POINT, the more time I research connective tissues, the more confident I become on touting the findings of others and what I’ve just personally experienced in my own body and what I see happening with my fellow yogis. In an increasingly insane world, reliant on the easy fixes… I am increasingly empowered.

Soooo

I’ll be revisiting these issues. I 100% believe that a huge part of the study of the human body has been tossed into the biohazard bin, with the assumption that it (fascia/connective tissues) is simply the bubble wrap on the musculoskeletal system. And of course, the Msk system is an enormous component of our locomotion system. But let’s not be that reductionist- and consider that the huge amount of tissue that’s historically been thrown into the biotrash bin warrants a WHOLE lot more thought.

I have made the executive decision to leave my computer behind. It is too much of a hassle. And I’m not going to get a stupid People magazine for the flight, either. I have a book on fascia to be reading.

But I had to take a little break from packing to do a mini personal practice. Here are my favorite clips. Now off to finish packing! 🙂

I slept like a ROCK last night, which is a pleasant surprise for me, I usually wake up several times during the night. So I am most grateful – yet still having trouble waking up. So I did a little personal practice and here are my favorite stills. I’m going to attempt to add the video clips, but I’ll be at the mercy of youtube.